The Daughter Of Chaos
by Abigail Star
Summary: She wants to be normal, but she knows she isn't, and could never be. She is special, but she does not know it. Her journey begins when she least expects it. Will she survive the long and treacherous journey to the top? Will she learn to lead her kind, sacrifice her wish to be normal? Or will she choose to be normal, but disappoint them all? And after all that, then what?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Percy Jackson characters. Rick Riordan owns all. Well, most of them. **

**This is dedicated to Chiisana Pierrot, a.k.a Sam, for her dedication of Here's Your Pension to me. **

**Pine & Patience, the story you guys have been craving for.**

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**PROLOGUE**

It was a typical weekday.

Friday, it so happened to be.

She was in her seat, waiting for the class to end. Please. Please, please, please, she prayed. Mr. Last-Period-Bell, ring now. Ring now. _Please_.

It won't end fast enough, though. In fact, time seemed to be slowing down.

She liked last period class; her class was doing Greek Mythology for history. It wasn't the only class in a week, but even so, she despised the fact that it was – on Fridays – the last period of the day, or rather, the last period of the week, when everyone can't seem to stay focused. Most of her classmates walk into the classroom looking as if they're ready for a nap. They leave as if they've been released from prison.

The class, the teacher, the subject…she loves it all.

But that day was awfully hot.

Half her class were making paper fans out of construction paper. The other half was yawning. She?

Her body was saying, Let go. Loosen up. _Sleep_.

Her eyelids were demanding, Close your eyes. Take a nap. _Sleep_.

She struggled to stay awake. It was sort of impossible.

She forced herself to listen to what the teacher was saying. It worked. Well, her _ears_ were listening. Her brain wasn't functioning. It was hard to, with summer so close.

Her mind started drifting. She had tons of ideas of what to do in the summer. Alone. No one else.

There were too many ideas to choose from.

The beach? Definitely.

All around the world? She mused. Maybe. She could spend the entire summer around the world. That she could live with. It would be heavenly.

The bell rang then. Everyone cheered and rushed out the door. Naturally, they all got stuck in the doorway.

She stifled a laugh.

Her classmates had sorted themselves out and were walking home. She waved goodbye to the teacher and walked out the door.

She went home, her head still full of thoughts on where to spend the summer.

I'll go where my heart brings me, she decided.

Little did she know that this summer was going to be interestingly different from the rest.


	2. A Person In Her Head

**This update came faster than I expected...**

**I don't own PJO. **

**R&R. :)**

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Anastasia is human. She's just a normal person. Or so she thought. She knows many things about herself, but unfortunately, not everything. Quite a few important things, she hasn't found out yet. And now, what she didn't know was that her life is going to be much more different.

This is what she knows, or so she thinks she knows: Her full name, also one that most people don't know about, is Anastasia Lydia Coll. Everyone calls her Tia. She doesn't have a mother, nor a father. A lady and her husband adopted her, so that means she is an orphan. The lady, by the name of Liza, became her mother. The husband, who's name was Mark, died in an accident about a few months ago.

Liza doesn't really care about Tia, as long as she's happy, satisfied, then it's alright. She is the "let loose" kind, so Tia lives life the way she likes without any disturbance from her mother. She likes Liza enough, but sometimes, hard to avoid, she feels as if she had been neglected. Her friends all envy her, because her mother doesn't care about her grades, and the fact that Liza lets her do whatever she wants.

And she really does.

So she goes wild.

No kidding. Her closet is oversized. Everything's in there, from strapless shirts, ball gowns, designer jeans, khakis, silk robes to puffy skirts, 5-inch-high platform heels, thigh-high cowboy boots, push-down socks, lacey gloves with no fingertips, etc.

And don't forget the jewelry.

And what's hard to imagine is this: all the outrageous outfits, all the wild _wild_ WILD stuff, and still she doesn't care. In fact, Liza actually takes a liking to her closet! Très weird, I know.

She doesn't know what race she's from, nor her nationality.

Oh, by the way, let's just say she's lucky the family she got adopted into was rich. Mark was a billionaire, and that's the way she'll remember him.

Alright, enough introductions. So, back to reality.

She was packing her bag. Liza was out again, doing Lord-knows-what, but no doubt spending – wasting – money. So here's her perfect chance to "get out".

She took a sling-over backpack, threw a few shirts into the bag, a pair of jeans and a pair of sneakers. And some energy bars. Her silver bracelet was on her wrist. She doesn't know what it does, but she's had it since she was a mere child, she remembered. And the necklace was with her too, around her neck. It had a silver chain, with no end. No clasp, no lock, nothing. And hanging from the chain was a pretty transparent pendant. In the tear-drop shaped pendant, was a kaleidoscope-ic colored structure of a circle with 8 arrows. Not that she knows what it means, though.

Anyway, she had on a hooded sweater, jeans, and on her feet were combat boots. She looked around her room, promising herself that someday she was coming back to collect all her stuff.

Tia stood outside the gate, forcing herself not to look back. She had half a mind to chicken out, go back in, and forget about her curiosity. After all, she had heard the phrase "curiosity kills" one time too many. But her curiosity won.

To her right, at the end of the row, was a forest. To her left were other mansions, quite alike hers, only without secret passageways. Ahead was a gorgeous recreational garden with a fountain spewing clean, fresh water.

Tia had never been in the woods, so she decided to give it a try. She hoped there were no snakes in there, because she hated snakes. One look at even a tiny one would make her legs turn to jelly. As she got nearer to the forest, she felt something stirring inside her.

Then suddenly a voice spoke in her head, "You had choices," it said. "But you chose the woods. Dangerous, yes, but a great choice. Very few people would think to venture in the woods, so you could practice your powers unseen."

Powers? Tia thought. She was just a human, not at all like those people in those Greek myths that she read. Demigods, that's what they were called.

The voice seemed to be able to read her thoughts, because it said, "That's what you think, not what you know. Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine."

Said a voice in her head. Did it really expect Tia to believe that? Seriously?


	3. The Ground Was Pillow For Her Head

**Sorry for the long wait. I was busy with school *smiles sheepishly***

**I do not own PJO. **

**R&R. :) **

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The voice sounded deep, yet it wasn't like the thousand-knives-scraping-on-the-path-to-Tartarus kind of deep, throaty and eerie, but the manly, deep-yet-kind-and-warm kind of deep. It was quite soothing.

"Who are you?" Tia demanded. "What right do you have by renting space in my head without permission?"

The voice laughed. "You'll find out soon enough, my dear. I swear, I'm not going to harm you. I just want to help you."

"By taking up space in my head? Yeah, well, I don't see that as much help of any kind," she scoffed.

"It's true," promised the voice.

"Oh, yeah? And how do I know if you're not lying?"

"I swear I'm not."

"Not what?"

"Lying."

"So you admit that you _are _lying!"

"NO! I'm _not_ lying."

"You'd better not be."

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Shut up. That's enough," she said. "Or I'll shut you out of my head, if I can. 'Cuz this conversation is getting _way_ off track."

Finally, some peace. Gingerly, Tia took a step into the forest. She had to admit, she didn't know which way to go. So she asked the voice, "Where should I go?"

When she got no response, she asked again, a little impatient. _You take up space in my head, you do as I say_, she thought. _Or else_.

"Hello? Some help here?" she persisted.

Silence.

Then, "I can't speak. Or else you'll shut me out of your head, if you try hard enough, and I can't risk that."

"Is it _that_ important for you to be in my head?"

"Sorta. Yeah."

Yeesh. It was annoying.

"Fine," Tia decided. "Just don't talk nonsense."

"That shouldn't be hard."

"Hey, can we communicate without sound? Like, just mental connection," asked Tia with a sudden spark of interest. "I sound crazy talking to myself."

"You can try. It's not that hard. Just think of what you want to say and send the thought to me."

So they kept up a lively chat while Tia walked. Suddenly the voice said, "Hey, I thought you needed help?"

She cursed silently. "I need directions. To the best place that you think I should go. We were talking about some speech thing, and then - alright. Directions?"

"Where do you want to go?" the voice questioned.

"I…I don't know. I guess I'll just go where fate takes me."

"Not a bad answer. You have the brains, girl. I like it," said the voice, sounding proud.

"What? You expect me to be half-witted?" she snapped.

"Chill. You're getting all worked up over nothing."

And so the voice led the way, like it can see through her head. It was dark. Wind whipped her hair. Her eyes pierced into the darkness. But even so, it all looked the same to her. She didn't know where they were heading to, but she just went where the voice told her to go. Like, half the time she didn't even know where she was going.

Fortunately, the voice didn't make the directions so hard to understand. They were simple, like "straight, then turn left" or "round that oak tree, then to the right", etc. Of course, there were the natural "Oops. A little too far. Backtrack. Yup. Good. Down that winding road ahead." But otherwise, it was alright.

Tia hardly got to rest. At times when she was hungry she took out some energy bars and took a few bites. Well, alright. More than just a few bites. She demolished half of what she brought in just 3 days, which is saying a lot.

She was so tired that sometimes she felt as if she were sleep-walking. Oh, and anyway, whatever powers she had, she didn't get to use them. _Who cares?_ she thought. _As long as I reach my destination alive, it's a miracle._

Not that she knew where that is.

A few days later, Tia stumbled upon a clearing. She stepped cautiously into it. The past few days, though nothing attacked her in the woods or whatsoever, she learned to be real careful. You never know.

She was hungry and tired and disheveled. Plus the voice was as annoying as ever. "Have you looked at yourself lately? No? Well, I'll tell you, your eyes are wild and lean, and anyone could've easily mistaken you for a wolf! And trust me, it's not a pretty sight." And a lot of laughter. (She did _not_ find it funny.)

A faint smell of strawberries drifted to her nose. The fragrance washed over her like a tide. It gave her hope to walk on, to know that there were living things around, not just her and the wilderness.

After a bit, the woods cleared out, and she was standing on a hill. Her eyes swept over the scenery in front of her. On the second hill stood a single pine tree, standing tall and mighty, a little blurry but otherwise breathtaking.

After so many days of rain, shine, day, night, and not having even a night of good rest, she was totally worn out. Her head was pounding. All she wanted to do was just dig a hole, fall into it and hibernate. Yes, hibernate.

It was a weird feeling Tia just couldn't explain. Somehow, she knew this place was sacred, but in what way? There was something more to the blurry space in front of her than just the tree, but what? It was someplace special, but special how?

_Stop thinking_, she scolded herself. _It hurts even more._

As she got nearer, she noticed the pine tree was glowing. But not the entire tree, just a branch. A pile of cables was wrapped around the bottom of the trunk.

A little more, and there it was, standing majestically in front of her. The voice said, "Well, here it is. This is the place where the start of your journey begins. I'll see you soon, my dear. And in the meantime, try to stay alive." Then it vanished.

Tia collapsed and blacked out. Fortunately, the ground was soft.


	4. She Meets Some Godly People

**School's out for a week!**

**Ok. So for most of you, especially those who've read the Percy Jackson series, this chapter might be a little familiar because, like, it's from Tia's point of view, and she's new to Camp Half-Blood, so yeah. And I think some of you might wonder if Nico's hiding something or whatsoever, in any case, I'll reveal in the next chapter. *hides***

**R&R. :) Btw, I don't own PJO. **

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When Tia came to, she was lying on a soft bed. Someone was feeding her something. It tasted like honey.

Her eyes flew open. Her head still hurt, but as long as she didn't move so much, it wasn't as bad as before. Then she noticed a person sitting on a chair, next to her bed.

It was a boy. He noticed her. "Oh, you're awake!"

She tried to sit up. The boy cried, "No! Don't! Your head will-"

He was accidentally interrupted by her "Arrggh!" She sank back down onto the bed.

"-hurt even more," he finished. "But I think you realized that already. Are you alright?"

Tia found her voice. "What do you think?"

"Uh…actually, you don't look so good." He helped her sit up, then gave her a tall glass of honey-coloured drink.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Nectar," he replied. "Although it'll taste like your favourite drink…unless you love nectar."

As she drank, she looked around. She wasn't the only one lying on a bed. There were many others, some with broken limbs and gashes. There were teenagers bustling around. In fact, so many of them were teenagers, you'd think they owned the place. _Well maybe they do_, she thought.

Then Tia focused on the boy. He had pale olive-coloured skin and dark tousled hair. He wore an aviator's jacket, black jeans and a T-shirt with dancing skeletons on it, like one of those Day of the Dead pictures.

To sum it up, he looked Goth.

She finished the drink, and he smiled and took the glass. Then he asked, "So, what's your name?"

"Anastasia."

"Anastasia?"

"Yes. Anastasia. _Just_ Anastasia. You can call me Tia."

"Cool. Tia. Nice name." He grinned. "I'm Nico. Di Angelo. Just call me Nico."

She looked at him in wonder. _How many names did this guy have?_

He must've seen the question in her expression, because he laughed and said, "That's my full name. Nico di Angelo."

"Oh," she said, feeling foolish. Her brain still wasn't fully awake yet. "Well, Nico, since we've got that cleared, I have a few questions."

"Go ahead," he shrugged.

So she began bombarding him with questions. "Where am I? Where is this place? Why is this place filled with teenagers? Who runs this place? Why is the pine tree glowing? Why do you have such a dark aura?"

Tia stopped for a breath and Nico jumped in. "Whoa! Calm down. You are in the infirmary. This is Camp Half-Blood. Half-bloods mostly get recruited when they're about twelve. Let's see, Chiron is the activities director and Mr. D is the camp director. The pine tree – well, I'll take you to see it. And as for my aura, I-wait, you can see my aura?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. A flicker or two sometimes, if I concentrate."

"And you asked why I have such a dark aura?"

"Yeah."

"That's because I'm the son of Hades."

Her face shone with utter disbelief. "Chiron? Hades? Are you crazy? They're not even alive! They're myths!"

Nico looked at the sky nervously, like he expected something to just drop down from the sky. "Watch those words, Tia," he said. "Don't simply throw them around."

"And why's that?" she inquired.

"The gods are still alive. Very much alive, like you and me. Don't insult them. One word about them: they take insults _seriously_. The gods are linked to Western Civilization. In fact, they _are _Western Civilization. Without them, thee very fabric of our Western Civilization will crumble. We will cease to exist."

"Okay. I'm really going nuts. You expect me to believe that?"

"Do you know anything about Greek Mythology?"

"Yeah. It was my favourite subject in school, though I never expected them to be alive…and I still don't."

"You go to school?" he sounded surprised.

"Yeah. Well, no. Make that _went _to school."

"Oh."

After a moment's silence, Nico asked, "Do you have ADHD or dyslexia?"

"No," replied Tia. "Why?"

"Very few demigods don't have ADHD _and_ dyslexia. You might be one of them."

"Demigods? And what does ADHD and dyslexia have to do with anything?"

"As demigods, or half-bloods, whichever you prefer, we usually have both ADHD and dyslexia. The ADHD part of us keeps our brain alive on the battlefield. And the dyslexia, well, it's because our minds are hardwired to read Greek."

"Oh. Well, I suppose history rewinds itself, huh?

"What do you mean?" He seemed puzzled.

"You know, those Greek heroes like Achilles and Perseus?"

"Oh…yeah." A flicker of sadness crossed Nico's face. But it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and his crooked smile surfaced.

Tia desperately looked for something to say to fill in the awkward silence. "How old are you?"

"14. How about you?"

"13."

"Oh."

Silence ensued.

Nico was only 14, yet somehow he seemed so much older, mature. Sadder.

"What's wrong?" Tia asked.

"Nothing. Really," replied Nico, shrugging nonchalantly.

"No, seriously. Something's on your mind. I can see it on your face," she persisted.

He raised his voice. "I told you. _Nothing!_"

Tia arched an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like nothing." She reached out and put her hand on his. Her voice softened. "Are you alright?"

He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's just…I mean, its just-"

"It's ok. You don't have to tell me if you don't feel like it."

"No. Nevermind. Come along. I'll show you around." And with that, Nico gripped her hand and pulled her up.

She swung her legs down over the side of the bed, stood and nearly crumpled to the ground. Her journey here drained her a lot, she realized. Nico, with reflexes fast as lightning, grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up.

"Whoa! Are you alright? You look pale," Nico said.

"I'm fine. It's alright." She tried for a smile while gritting her teeth.

He looked doubtful, but took her hand and led her out of the infirmary.

The first thing that met her eyes was a porch. A porch of a big farmhouse, across a field of green. They walked to the porch.

"Let's start from here," said Nico.

So they walked along the porch. It wrapped all the way around the farmhouse. Her legs felt wobbly trying to walk that far.

As they came around the opposite end of the house, Tia caught her breath.

They must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to Long Island Sound, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, she simply couldn't process everything she was seeing.

The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture – an open-air pavilion, an amphitheatre, a circular arena – except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and…satyrs? They played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets in an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless Tia was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings and some had spiral horns sprouting from their foreheads.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. A pretty blond haired girl was leaning on the porch rail next to them, her hair curled like Cinderella's.

The man facing Tia was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels – what were they called, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at casinos.

"That's Mr. D," Nico murmured. "Camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. I'd introduce you to her, but…I'll tell you later. And you recognize Chiron…?" He pointed to the guy whose back was to me.

First, I realized he was sitting in a wheelchair. Then I saw the guy was wearing a tweed jacket. He had thinning brown hair and a scraggly beard.

"That's Chiron…?" Tia asked. Seriously? He was supposed to be a centaur.

Apparently, he heard her, because he turned around and smiled at her. "Yes. I am Chiron."

She gawked.

"Well, you're finally awake," said Chiron. "What's your name?"

"Anastasia." She fixed her eyes on his, obviously having finished gawking.

"Just call her Tia," piped up Nico.

"Well, it seems you've met," said Chiron, smiling. "Great. Well, come here."

He offered Tia a seat to the right of Mr. D, who looked at her with bloodshot eyes and heaved a sigh so great it could be heard all the way in the next country. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Done. Now don't expect me to be glad to see you, because I'm not."

"Yeah, well, I'm not glad either," Tia muttered. She scooted a little further away from him, because, if there was one thing she learned from living with Liza, it was how to tell if an adult has been hitting the happy juice. _If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, then I was a pig_, she thought.

"Nico?" Chiron called.

He came forward.

"Why don't you go check on Tia's bunk? We'll be putting her in cabin eleven for now."

"Sure, Chiron."

Then he left. Tia wanted to yell either, "Wait! I'm coming with you!" or "Don't leave me here alone!", because Mr. D's eyes were darting all over her, and the blond was staring at her strangely, too.

Why on earth did he have to run so fast?


End file.
